The relative success of video downloads on Microsoft's Xbox Live and disappointment of Amazon.com's Unbox point to two factors that differentiate Xbox from Amazon and its many other competitors -- consumers who download a movie want a simple way to watch it on their TV, and those with high-def TVs want high-def content. ...

Though there are fewer than 3.5 million 360s in the U.S. by last count, movies available from Warner and Paramount, as well as content from CBS and MTV on the TV side, are doing at least as well and, in some cases, better than on competing Web sites, which are available to anyone with a PC and high-speed Internet connection.

Xbox 360 owners are a tech-savvy and media-hungry bunch, of course, but the relatively strong start for video downloads on the console show that there is a market when watching a download is as easy as pushing a few buttons.

First, these patents describe specific ways to improve the RSS end-user and developer experience (which we believe are valuable and innovative contributions) -- they do not constitute a claim that Microsoft invented RSS.

We have always fully acknowledged the innovators and supporters of RSS, like Dave Winer, Nick Bradbury and many others, and I can say, without hesitation, that I and my colleagues personally have the deepest respect for their invaluable contributions.

The pair of applications were made public by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for what appears to be the first time on Thursday, following the expiration of a requisite 18-month window in which applications are generally kept secret.

Redmond actually filed for the patents on June 21, 2005. That date, incidentally, is just three days prior to the company's formal announcement that it planned to build support for RSS into the next version of its Internet Explorer browser and into its planned Windows Vista operating system--then referred to as Longhorn.

A content syndication platform, such as a web content syndication platform, manages, organizes and makes available for consumption content that is acquired from the Internet. In at least some embodiments, the platform can acquire and organize web content, and make such content available for consumption by many different types of applications. These applications may or may not necessarily understand the particular syndication format. An application program interface (API) exposes an object model which allows applications and users to easily accomplish many different tasks such as creating, reading, updating, deleting feeds and the like.

A content syndication platform, such as a web content syndication platform, manages, organizes and makes available for consumption content that is acquired from the Internet. In at least some embodiments, the platform can acquire and organize web content, and make such content available for consumption by many different types of applications. These applications may or may not necessarily understand the particular syndication format. An application program interface (API) exposes an object model which allows applications and users to easily accomplish many different tasks such as creating, reading, updating, deleting feeds and the like. Further, in at least some embodiments, a user can subscribe to a particular web feed, be provided with a user interface that contains distinct indicia to identify new feeds, and can efficiently consume or read RSS feeds using both an RSS reader and a web browser.

In a move to benefit customers, Microsoft Corp. announced today that it will change the Xbox 360™ warranty from 90 days to one year from the date of purchase in the United States and Canada. Microsoft extended the warranty in these territories to be consistent with the standard one-year Xbox 360 warranty that is available throughout most of the world. The news is reason to celebrate this holiday season; it applies to both would-be purchasers and those who already have Xbox 360 and are still within their first year of ownership.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle, says Microsoft is seeking to terminate the deal because In-Fusio hasn't made the second of four scheduled $500,000 payments. In-Fusio, in turn, says it hasn't made that payment because Microsoft hasn't lived up to its own obligations.

Project Origami: Remember Microsoft's Ultra-Mobile PC initiative? According to the team blog, "the Origami bees are busy at work with some killer new products." CES would seem a logical place for Microsoft and hardware makers to show some new UMPCs, depending on their progress.

Microsoft Corporation today announced a multi-million dollar settlement with The MPO Group, a Microsoft® authorised disk replicator, following a several-year investigation into the production and distribution of counterfeit Microsoft server software. As part of the settlement, MPO has acknowledged that it breached the disk replication agreements it had in place with Microsoft after unlawfully replicating thousands of Microsoft server software disks in reliance on a fake Microsoft licensing agreement.

Headquartered in Averton, France, with operations in Ireland and Thailand, MPO Group's Thai subsidiary manufactured 20,000 counterfeit copies of Microsoft Exchange and SQL Server™ products in July 2003. In the ensuing year, investigators and attorneys in Microsoft’s Worldwide Anti-Piracy team, often working in collaboration with law enforcement officials, recovered some of the counterfeits in court-authorised searches and test purchases and traced them back to the MPO Group’s Thailand manufacturing facility at MPO Asia.

video game champion has been crowned; “Gears of War” made history today by becoming the fastest-selling next-generation game of 2006 and the fastest-selling exclusive Xbox® game ever.

Microsoft Game Studios and Epic Games, Inc., today confirmed that “Gears of War,” the Xbox 360™-exclusive title, has sold more than 2 million copies worldwide since its release six weeks ago, with a stunning 1 million copies sold in the U.S. alone. ...

In addition to being the must-have video game of the holiday season, “Gears of War” continues to rage on the Xbox Live battlefield as well, with more than 1 million unique gamers engaging in 10 million online gameplay sessions and unlocking an impressive 7 million achievements.* On top of being the No. 1 title on Xbox Live, “Gears of War” has driven new members to the network; paid registrations per day have skyrocketed more than 50 percent since the game’s launch.

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) today announced a strategic alliance on paid search services, which will officially commence in December 2006. As a result of this strategic alliance, Microsoft will display Baidu’s paid search listings on the search results pages of certain Microsoft websites, including MSN, Live, and other partner websites in China.

Q: What does XNA stand for?
A: XNA’s Not Acronymed

Microsoft says it is aiming to provide a common software development system for programming robots in industrial, home and academic settings. Microsoft Robotics Studio works on Windows-based computers, but the resulting programs can be used in robots running a number of different operating systems.

Ho, ho, ho! This year there is another way for kids to share Christmas wish lists with Santa Claus. Using Windows Live™ Messenger, parents can spend time with their kids chatting in real time with Santa online. Customers can simply add Santa’s address, Northpole@live.com, to their Windows Live Messenger contact list and instantly open a conversation window to communicate with Saint Nick. Kids will enjoy immediate responses from the jolly big man himself through an interactive online chat, and they can even visit Santa’s page on Windows Live Spaces at http://santaonspaces.spaces.live.com. Filling Santa in on Christmas wishes and asking all about how the reindeer are doing or what’s new at the North Pole are a few of the things kids can talk to Santa about. Santa can even tell kids where they stand on his list: naughty or nice.

Starting Christmas Eve morning, kids can check in with Santa through Windows Live Messenger to follow his journey around the world. As Santa circles the globe delivering gifts, kids who ask him where he is or when he will arrive at their house will be directed to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) Santa-tracking site through a link in the conversation window. More information on chatting with Santa through Windows Live Messenger can be found at http://santaonmessenger.com.

In true Viva Piñata spirit, the Xbox 360 team in Mexico City set about establishing a new world record for the biggest piñata. Forty-five people worked on the construction process, and over 800 people (kids and their families) had a hand in finishing the giant Horstachio piñata, which stands 14.6 meters tall and 16 meters long (approximately 48 feet by 52 feet), weighs 2 metric tons (4,400 pounds), and took three full weeks to create.

The new Microsoft patent proposes that ads do not get permanently embedded into a TV program, but rather a DVR ad-based server be used instead. The server will track where ads are to be played throughout a program and insert an appropriate ad. This way, time-sensitive ads will be played or not played appropriately.

We have excerpts from transcripts of Thursday's and Friday's sessions, including a 2004 email from Jim Allchin to Steve Balmer and Bill Gates in which he says Microsoft had lost sight of what customers need and that he himself would buy a Mac, if he didn't work for Microsoft.

This email is nearly 3 years old, and I was being purposefully dramatic in order to drive home a point. The point being that we needed to change and change quickly. We did: We changed dramatically the development process that was being used and we reset the Windows Vista development project in mid-2004, essentially starting over.

Your World. Your Game. With today’s release of Microsoft® XNA™ Game Studio Express and the launch of the XNA Creators Club, this phrase has never been more true. Based on the easy-to-use Visual C#® 2005 Express Edition and Microsoft .NET Compact Framework, XNA Game Studio Express opens up the world of game development to the masses and is now available for free to anyone with a Windows® XP-based PC at http://www.msdn.com/XNA. With the release of XNA Game Studio Express, Microsoft Corp. unveiled the XNA Creators Club, opening up video game development to untapped creative minds, enabling anyone to affordably build and play amazing game ideas on Xbox 360 systems for the first time ever.

The XNA Creators Club is available on Xbox Live® Marketplace for $49 (U.S.) for a four-month subscription, or $99 (U.S.) for an annual subscription. Both subscriptions provide aspiring game developers with access to thousands of game assets from Microsoft and key supporters such as Turbo Squid Inc., as well as white papers, specialized starter kits, samples and technical product support to help turn Your World, Your Game into a reality.

Q: Your new job is with Microsoft?

A: That's right. My last day at InfoWorld will be Friday Dec 15. On Jan 15, after a month-long sabbatical, I'll become a Microsoft employee. My official title will be Evangelist, and I'll report to Jeff Sandquist. He's the leader of the team that creates Channel 9 and Channel 10, websites that feature blogs, videos, screencasts, and podcasts for Microsoft-oriented developers.

Microsoft Corp. ... and Google Inc. ... are the only two companies with pockets deep enough to fight the arms race for Web audience market share, the head of Microsoft's Internet arm said on Thursday.

"You have to be able to invest at a level that only right now two companies in the world can invest at and that's Google and Microsoft," said Berkowitz, who joined in May after quitting as CEO of IAC/InterActiveCorp's ... Ask.com.